Developing Information Society in Ghana: How Far?

Abstract Increasingly the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) is underpinning every socio‐economic activity and developing knowledge‐based economy and information society. The opportunities that access to and use of ICTs offer are numerous. The need for creating an information society is not based only on the availability of ICT services, but more importantly, their usage by the citizenry which contributes to building knowledge. Using primary data from Ghana, the paper discusses the access and usage of ICTs by individuals and household in three broad spatial categories namely: metropolitan cities, other urban towns and rural areas. The analysis is based on over 1200 households and individuals surveyed from the three areas. The results from the analysis and discussion show that Ghana has made some achievements in increasing access and usage of ICT services at both the household and individual levels. However, compared to more efficient markets in Africa, much remains to be done due to identified weakness in policy regime, market failures and weak ICT skills capability. Consequently, the paper advocates for a strong regulatory regime, coupled with increased competitiveness in the market and acceleration of the implementation of the ICT Policy to facilitate the advancement of the information society in Ghana.